The 34th Annual Meeting of the American Aging Association, combined with the 19th Annual Meeting of the American College of Clinical Gerontology will be held in San Francisco, CA, June 3-6, 2005. The theme selected for the 2005 meeting of our organizations is "Aging, Mechanisms and Prevention". What we hope to accomplish is to bring together a group of scientists working in experimental gerontology, to review and discuss recent developments in this field with special emphasis on the regulation of aging and longevity in mammals and on studies aimed at delay on prevention of human aging and age-related disease, and to provide forum for presentation of new research data and for in-depth discussion of the presented material. The program will consist of invited lectures arranged into eight sessions, each consisting of three presentations and ample time for discussion, platform and poster presentations of material submitted by the registrants, and two special lectures. The purpose of the special lectures will be to provide a practical, clinical perspective and thus help the participants to view laboratory findings in the context of key issues in geriatric medicine. Topics selected for coverage by invited lectures include genetic and cellular mechanisms of aging, role of IGF-1 signaling, caloric restriction in the human, genetics of human longevity, brain aging and novel therapies for neurodegenerative disease, and use of genomics and proteomics in gerontological research. Financial assistance will be provided to those in training to encourage their participation in the meeting. [unreadable] [unreadable]